Gbolahan Devin Aromashodu (born September 25, 1984) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

wide receiver. He was drafted by the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

in the seventh round of the

2006 NFL Draft The 2006 National Football League Draft, the 71st in league history, took place in New York City, New York, at Radio City Music Hall on April 29 and April 30, 2006. For the 27th consecutive year, the draft was telecast on ESPN and ESPN2, with ad ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

. Aromashodu has also been a member of the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

and

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

Early years

Aromashodu was born and raised in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. His father, who immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

from

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, was deeply fond of football, but was reluctant to let his son play. Aromashodu eventually convinced his father to let him join a youth football team, where he surprised his father by becoming one of the team's best players. Aromashodu attended

Miami Springs High School Miami Springs Senior High School is a secondary school located at 751 Dove Avenue in Miami Springs, Florida, United States; its principal is Alfred Torossian (2020–Present). The school is part of Miami-Dade County Public School's nationally acc ...

, where he was a three-sport star in football, basketball and track. In

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, he played as a wide receiver,

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

and

kickoff returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

. As a junior, he caught 29 passes for 620 yards and seven

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

and returned two kickoffs for touchdowns. As a senior, he caught 17 passes for 417 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 372 yards and four scores on offense, while also totaled 45 tackles and one interception on defense. He frequently played against future teammate

Devin Hester Devin Devorris Hester Sr. (born November 4, 1982) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver and return specialist in the National Football League (NFL). He is widely regarded as the greatest return specialist i ...

. Also an standout

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete, Aromashodu was one of the state's top sprinters. At the 2002 FHSAA State T&F Championships, he earned second-place finishes in both

100-meter dash The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contest ...

(10.62 s) and

200-meter dash The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

(22.28 s) events. In addition, he also ran a 4.4-second

40-yard dash The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL Draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a he ...

, bench-pressed 250 lb, squatted 285 and had a 42-inch

vertical jump A vertical jump or vertical leap is the act of jumping upwards into the air. It can be an exercise for building both endurance and strength, and is also a standard test for measuring athletic performance. It may also be referred to as a ''Sargent ...

College career

Aromashodu expressed interest in attending

North Carolina State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

, and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. After much deliberation, he choose to play for Auburn. Devin played a critical role in Auburn's offense during three of the four years he spent there, logging 71 catches for 1,333 yards and 9 touchdowns in 51 games with the Tigers.

Professional career

Miami Dolphins

After being drafted by the

in the seventh round of the

, Aromashodu failed to make the team's opening day roster.

Indianapolis Colts

After being cut from the Dolphins, Aromashodu would begin his early career as a

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

member for a number of NFL teams. A member of the

and

's practice teams in 2007, Devin was signed to the active roster of the Colts on November 14, 2007. He would make appearances in six regular season games that season, amassing 96 yards on seven receptions.

Washington Redskins

Aromashodu was later waived by the Colts on August 7, 2008 and soon signed with the

practice squad.

Chicago Bears

After remaining on the inactive list during his first year with the

Jay Cutler Jay Christopher Cutler (born April 29, 1983) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, primarily with the Chicago Bears. He played college football for the Van ...

lobbied to the team's offensive coordinator, Ron Turner, to give Aromashodu playing time. He caught his first pass as a Bear on November 12, 2009 against the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

. Aromashodu began to play a larger role in the team's offense after wide receiver

was sidelined with a

calf Calf most often refers to: * Calf (animal), the young of domestic cattle. * Calf (leg), in humans (and other primates), the back portion of the lower leg Calf or calves may also refer to: Biology and animal byproducts * Veal, meat from calves * ...

injury. He caught his first NFL career touchdown from Cutler on December 13, against the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

. Aromashodu played an integral part in the Bears

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, AB ...

upset victory over the

, catching seven passes for 150 yards, including the game-winning touchdown in overtime. During the 2009 season finale, Aromashodu caught two touchdowns and amassed 46 yards on five receptions in a 37–23 win over the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

. He finished the season with 24 catches, 298 yards, and four receiving touchdowns. His remarkable finish sparked criticism of the Bears' front office regarding why it took until Week 14 for Aromashodu to see significant playing time. Former Bears

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

Ron Turner responded, " romashodugot hurt in the last preseason game. He hurt his hamstring, and he was out a couple weeks. When he came back, he wasn't back 100 percent. When he got back to the point that he was practicing at full speed and playing, we started to get him in the lineup. Could we have done it a couple weeks earlier? Possibly. But once he got healthy and started playing well in practice, we started getting him in the mix."

Minnesota Vikings

On July 26, 2011, Aromashodu and the Vikings came to agreement on a one-year contract. He caught 26 passes for 468 yards and 1 touchdown during the season, while starting 6 games. He became an unrestricted free agent Following the 2011 NFL season, but signed a 1-year to contract to remain with the Vikings on March 23, 2012. He caught 11 passes for 182 yards.

Chicago Bears (second stint)

On June 10, 2013, Aromashodu returned to the Bears. He caught three passes in the first three pre-season games. On August 25, 2013, Aromashadu was released in a wave of preseason roster cuts.

References

External links

Auburn Tigers bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aromashodu, Devin 1984 births Living people American football wide receivers American sportspeople of Nigerian descent Auburn Tigers football players Chicago Bears players Houston Texans players Indianapolis Colts players Washington Redskins players Miami Dolphins players Miami Springs Senior High School alumni Minnesota Vikings players Players of American football from Fort Lauderdale, Florida